Toad in the hole....... at last

For the past four and a bit years I have done most of the cooking, every now and then Glen will take his turn to cook – the effort it takes for him to pick up the phone and order take out is astounding, I jest he does cook every once in a while and he is good at it too, not that he would admit to that. He’d be far more like to say that A) he doesn’t know where the kitchen is and B) he doesn’t know how to use half the stuff in there anyway. The kitchen is mostly my domain and I like it that way. For years I have been cooking his dinner and putting it in front of him and he would say “What is it, is it toad in the hole?” It never was of course. I bought the Nigella Lawson cookbook “Kitchen” and as I was going through it I found a toad in the hole recipe, slightly different to the usual sausages in Yorkshire pudding type recipe. I like unusual, things that don’t conform to the norm. Life is plenty hard enough trying to fit in, to be liked and accepted, it’s hard not to conform to what society expects. I admire those who look different or live alternative life styles. Most ‘normal’ people will say something like ‘they’re only doing it for attention’ or some such. To me though, it shows strength of personality, individuality and character. I am a non-conformist mentally and that’s it, practically I’m too afraid of what other people will think of me and not being liked that I do everything within my capabilities to fit in. So when something like this recipe comes along I jump at the chance to try it, so that my non-conformist ways can come out and safely exercise their liberties within the confines of my four walls, behind closed doors…… Where to be honest nothing I do is normal!

Toad in the hole

350ml Milk

4 eggs

Pinch of salt

6 of your favourite sausages

Tbsp of goose fat, vegetable shortening or oil

1.       Preheat the oven to 220˚C/430˚F. Whisk together the milk and the eggs with the salt, then add the flour and beat it into a smooth batter.

2.       Next you want to squeeze all the sausage meat out of the casings, the easiest way I have found to do this is to cut the sausages in half and then squish it all out, if you squeeze it tight and flat between your thumb and forefinger, you should have no issues completely getting all of the sausage meat, roll each half into a ball so you essentially have 12 meatballs, then squash them down a little bit, so they look like fat mini burgers.

3.       Heat your fat in your roasting tin, on the hob, brown your little fat burgers for about a minute on each side.

4.       Working quickly add the batter straight into the roasting pan and pop it in the oven to bake, it will take about 40 minutes but check on it after 30, it’s done when the edges have risen and are golden and the middle has set.

Serve with a thick gravy.

Penne & Sausage Casseroles

The first time I made this recipe, I used English sausage meat, it’s not the same as the stuff you can get in America, it’s a lot smoother, like a really dense paste and sticky. The fact it is sticky makes it difficult to work with unless you are making sausage rolls or pork pies. I would suggest using pork sausages instead and squeezing out the meat from their skins for this one – or bratwurst, but the fresh ones, unless of course you are in the States.

Penne & Sausage Casseroles

1 cup uncooked penne pasta

100 grams Sausage meat
100 grams mushrooms, sliced
½ onion finely chopped
1  tbsp evoo
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp oregano
250ml dry red wine
500ml tomato sauce of choice
1 beef stock cube
100 grams mozzarella cheese coarsely shredded

1. Cook the pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook sausage meat over a medium heat until no longer pink; drain and set aside.

2. In the same skillet, sauté the mushrooms and onion in oil until tender. Add the Garlic and oregano; cook for a minute. Stir in ¾ of the wine. Bring to a boil; then cook until liquid is reduced by half, stir in the tomato sauce, stock cube, sausage meat and the remaining wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Drain the pasta, Grease four ramekins, spread sauce in each, divide the pasta between each, top with mozzarella, repeat in layers.

4. Cover and bake at 350°F/180°C for 25 minutes, uncover and bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Messy Sausage and more pasta!

Right I’ll be perfectly honest, unless you are American you may find some of the ingredients, for this next one a little obscure and hard to get, although alternatives are possible – manicotti is cannelloni pasta shells, while in America I found manicotti to be almost toblerone shaped and ridged, where as cannelloni is cylindrical and smooth, either will work equally well though. Sausage meat in Germany, from what I can tell doesn’t exist….. and if it does I haven’t found it yet, although always keeping my eyes peeled for that all elusive ingredient. So I sort of make my own, this is a perfect way round the inability to find sausage meat, it’s simple but messy – buy your favourite sausages, and squeeze the meat out of it’s skin… Hey Presto…. Sausage meat…. How cool am I?

Sausage Pasta

1lb sausage meat (that’s an awful lot of sausage squeezing)

2 cups cottage cheese
1 package manicotti or cannelloni shells
1 (26 oz) jar tomato sauce (whichever type you like)
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tsp sage

1, Preheat your oven to 350˚F (180˚C), and grease a baking dish big enough for all you pasta. In a large mixing bowl, mix together, the sausage meat, cottage cheese and sage. Once it’s well mixed, stuff it into the pasta shells, then place in your baking dish. Top with the tomato sauce.

2, Cover and bake, for about an hour, or if you have a thermometer the centre to the shell should have reached 160˚F (80˚C).

3, Uncover the pasta bake and sprinkle with the mozzarella, and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and bubbling.